(M.Santhiran,
Bernama's correspondent in New Delhi shares his take on the Indian capital city
and its unique social nuances as he begins his stint on February 1))
With
the north Indian weather turning pleasant after the bone chilling cold winter,
I too have warmed up to life in New Delhi.
Into
my third week here, as a Malaysian I have begun learning plenty of social
nuances at times that really surprised me.
Delhi
is a cosmopolitan city divided into the Old and New Delhi and much of its
population come from neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab to eke out a
living.
Due
to the heterogenus population, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi are widely spoken here
with almost 90 per cent of the Delhi population being Hindus, followed by
Muslims and Christians.
Like
I have said earlier knowing Hindi is essential in communicating at the street
level and English is only widely used in the officialdom.
My
driver is now my part time Hindi teacher and I have been making tremendous
progress in the language that I have been polishing up with traders and
shopkeepers that I patronise.
Having
said that, there were many occasions where I was at a loss and just replied
"Mei Hindi neihi mallum," (I can't speak Hindi).
DELHI'S
UNIQUE SOCIAL NUANCES
And
speaking of the social nuances of the people of Delhi, I have learnt that here
people cherish family values and believe in spending quality time with the
family.
Therefore
on weekends and public holidays there won't be much crowd outdoors including in
shopping complexes. The families stay indoors. This is a stark contrast with
the Malaysian urban culture where people make use of the weekends and public
holidays to patronise public places.
Also,
I hardly came across people consuming alcohol in public places or eateries
patronised by families. And during the eve of Delhi legislative assembly
election, a fortnight ago, I ended up in a pub cum restaurant since my regular
South Indian restaurant was closed.
Much
to my surprise the waiter told me it was a "dry day". I did not know
what he meant by that and when inquired he replied that except for food, no
beer or liquor would be served.
Learning
that I'm a foreigner there, the waiter went on to explain that on the eve of
elections, whether state or federal election, alcohol is banned by the
authorities.
The
same rule applies on special days in India - on the eve of Republic and
Independence Day and Mahatma Gandhi's birthday or better known as "Gandhi
Jayanthi."
The
next day my landlord also reminded be that on important days like elections and
commemortive days shops would remain closed up to 6,00 pm and thus I have to
stock-up in advance.
Checks
at my regular grocery shops and mini markets indicated no alcohol beverages
were available on the shelves as well.
THE
MUMBAI STORY
Meanwhile,
over the last weekend I was in Mumbai courtesy of Tourism Malaysia.
As
mentioned earlier that security is tight in India, I had a tough time
explaining my misspelled name in my air ticket. Instead of Santhiran, it was
typed "Santira" and this is how my woes began.
I
had to make few calls to Tourism Malaysia officials, who sponsored my trip for
the security people to verify my actual details as in my passport and had to
wait for a long time before allowed to check-in.
It
was really a frustrating experience but I believe that this is one of the many
that I would be going through while I'm in India.
Both
New Delhi and Mumbai, India's capital city and financial hub respectively, have
enhanced security protocols since terrorist attacks on the Parliament building
in Delhi and the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai.
--
BERNAMA
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